Bach On Nine Strings

“I do not think of this as a transcription,” writes Mario Brunello, “nor even as a version for other instruments. I would simply call it an apparition.” What emerges on Bach On Nine Strings is the sensation of a nine-string organ: an expanded sound world in which Johann Sebastian Bach’s contrapuntal imagination can finally be heard, not merely imagined.

Bach’s solo works for violin and cello famously compress polyphony into a single melodic instrument, forcing the performer to suggest multiple voices through implication and illusion. By dividing these lines between two violoncelli piccoli — one four-string and one five-string — Brunello and Mauro Valli allow the music’s inner architecture to unfold with unprecedented clarity. Upper voices sing freely, liberated from the need to abandon melody in order to imply harmony, while the bass lines gain physical presence and resonance.

The inspiration for this project came from the harpsichord transcriptions of Gustav Leonhardt, themselves rooted in Bach’s own practice of rewriting and reimagining his music for different instruments. Far from betraying the originals, these versions extend Bach’s lifelong curiosity for color, texture, and expressive possibility. As Brunello and Valli discovered while exploring Suites, Sonatas and Partitas together, the result is a fullness of sound that had previously existed only in the imagination.

Recorded in the Teatro Angelo Mariani — the oldest entirely wooden theatre in Italy — this album captures not only a unique instrumental perspective on Bach, but also an atmosphere steeped in history and intimacy. What remains is both revelation and rediscovery: familiar masterpieces heard anew, glowing with fresh resonance and depth.

Mario Brunello, Four-String Violoncello Piccolo
Mauro Valli, Five-String Violoncello Piccolo